Parkway Exit Changes In Effect Next Week

The answer to the classic Garden State question—what exit are you?—just got a little different for a handful of New Jerseyans.

Dual roadways of garden State Parkway near Atlantic City, N.J.
Photo Courtesy of The Tichnor Brothers Collection/ .flickr.com/boston_public_library/

John Feeney, spokesperson for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which runs the Garden State Parkway, said some of the Parkway exits and interchanges have already shifted to accommodate much-needed changes.

In Galloway Township, there is a new Exit 41 northbound and southbound, which has full access ramps to accommodate traffic between the Parkway and Jimmie Leeds Road.

Previously, Feeney says drivers who wanted to enter or exit the Parkway from Jimmie Leeds Road were cutting through the parking lot of the Atlantic City Service area.

“More than 13,000 vehicles were doing that on an average day,” he says. “Now they won’t have to. It will save the drivers time and improve the operation of the service area parking lot.”

The exit officially opened on March 13, as reported by NJ.com.

This week, changes to the Woodbridge exits will take place. On the Parkway Northbound, the old Exit 131 will now be Exit 132. On the Parkway Southbound, the old Exit 131 will become Exit 132 and the old Exit 131A will simply become Exit 131.

Feeney says the changes were made because the 2009 Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) changes guidelines for how exits are to be numbered. The new standard says that if any of the exits in a series is going to use a suffix, all of the exits in the series must use a suffix. Feeney says the Authority has chosen to nix suffixes altogether with the renaming of exits.

Additionally, Exit 131 will be renamed from the former Metropark to Wood Avenue South, though the stop still provides access to Metropark.

“The Authority has received feedback over the years that the Metropark designation causes confusion,” he says. “The name created the impression for some drivers that the exit provided access only to the train station.”

The changes to the new Exit 131 and 132 will become official during the week of March 23.

Feeney says more changes to exits along the Parkway are scheduled for various reasons to comply with the updated MUTCD. Exits to be renumbered on the Parkway southbound include 4A, 4B, 100A, 100B, 140, 140A, 143, 143A and 143B. Exits to be renumbered on the Parkway northbound include 100, 155 and 155P.

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